


keep a warm heart

by dotdotmoon



Series: and winter [3]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: (kind of), Alternate Universe - Vampire, Established Relationship, M/M, MAMA Era Powers (EXO), bffs xiusoo, burial-like stuff happening but no one dies, hibernation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22354600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dotdotmoon/pseuds/dotdotmoon
Summary: Kyungsoo has a nightmare before he goes into hibernation, and Jongdae forgets to kiss him goodbye before he covers him with earth.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongdae | Chen
Series: and winter [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593466
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	keep a warm heart

**Author's Note:**

> for this prompt: "any pairing: procrastinating on getting the apartment ready for upcoming hibernation"  
> — dear prompter, i told you it would be weird, and i'm a little but not all that much sorry about that: here's earth vampire kyungsoo for you!
> 
> extended content notes:  
> \- kinda unsanitary (because of stalled cleaning) for the beginning i guess

Kyungsoo walks through his apartment, stunned by the mess. He can barely take a step without fear of slipping, barely take a breath without fear of stirring up a disaster, and he definitely can't recall the last time he felt this overwhelmed. There are clothes, some stiff with dirt, some wet and smelling of mould spread about, there's dust and hair everywhere, clumps that seem to move, dancing with the dust in the air, when he doesn't look. He doesn't want to but his feet make their way over to the kitchenette where trash bags are leaking onto the floor, a brown, reaking fluid. He hopes his rice cooker is safe, dry at least. Just before he can lift the boxes off it to check, he hears Jongdae's laughter ringing from somewhere. It calms his anxious heart in an instant, and he jolts awake when there's a shift in the room.

"Hi," Jongdae says, like a calm and soft apparition now, heralded by his laughter.

Kyungsoo doesn't know if he dreamed his laughter, too; either way, it's something he'd pay to hear. "Hi," he says back, easily coming off the armchair he fell asleep in, stretching like a slab of dough when Jongdae pulls him into his arms. He's still drowsy, disoriented, squints around so intently Jongdae notices.

"Couldn't look any better," Jongdae comments, hugs him closer. "The new tenants will like it."

Kyungsoo trusts Jongdae with every fiber of his being, but the sights of his apartment from the bad dream linger, keep overlying. He breathes in, finds the air a little stale, nothing an open window couldn't fix.

"Wait here, I'll mop the floor," Jongdae says, deposits him back onto the armchair where Kyungsoo curls up, drifts off too quickly to tell him no. Jongdae flits away, leaving Kyungsoo to a half-dream about kissing him, although it feels like his dream of dirt and chaos crawled up to make a home in his mouth. He settles for directing Jongdae's mouth to his cheek when he's back, bending over him. He thinks he hears Jongdae talking on the phone, and there's the laughter again, guiding him deeper into serene sleep.

⚰️

"Kyungsoo?" Jongdae's voice says next to his ear. "Minseok's here."

Kyungsoo tugs himself upright, holds his arms out for Jongdae to pile the last of his belongings into them and hugs them to his chest. When he squeezes behind the passenger seat slid towards the dashboard, he realises Jongdae wisely only gave him a blanket and a pillow to hold onto, hears them trying to fit his last box into the tiny boot of Minseok's tiny car.

He opens his eyes again to a stare directed at him through the rear-view mirror.

"The seatbelt," Minseok reminds him sternly, probably for a second or third time.

"I'm undead," Kyungsoo says and burrows back into his pillow. "And you're the best driver I know."

Minseok's sigh mixes with Jongdae's giggles, and his thoughts fade to pleasant background noise as he listens to Jongdae commenting on how late they were this year, and Minseok telling him he'd been here for this for a decade, and they used to have to hire movers to take him home every year, after Kyungsoo's phone died and they were positive he wasn't just ignoring their messages.

⚰️

"Why do you all have to show up and make it feel like a funeral," Kyungsoo grumbles after they wrestled him out of the car and into Jongdae's apartment, emptied his pockets and helped him take off his slippers and socks. He climbs into the coffin, glad for their guiding hands and arms that balance out his ungraceful, heavy limbs, weighed down with the sleep of the coming months setting in.

Sehun's silence is obnoxiously loud so Kyungsoo squeezes his hand where they're holding onto each other, lets him carefully arrange his hair, pull and tug on his clothes, smooth out his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth with a tender fingertip, then a soft brush of lips where one of Sehun's tears fell on his face.

Kyungsoo lets out his last breath of the year, gathers the last remnants of energy to feel for Jongdae. Jongdae holds his hand, the last warm sun Kyungsoo will remember for a long while, as everyone takes turns, covering him in earth until he falls asleep, descending deeper and deeper as the rich smell covers him whole, as he melts into the cool soil.

⚰️

"Did you replace the smoke alarm batteries?" Minseok asks as they lower the lid of the coffin, struggling for a moment to fit it on until Sehun lifts one of the edges and it slides into place.

"I did more prep than Kyungsoo," Jongdae says and laughs. He didn't only help remind Kyungsoo to clean out his apartment but also participated in as many lotteries as inhumanly possible to win a long, expensive trip to send his roommate on so he wouldn't have to answer questions about the soil delivery or the boxes (full of his boyfriend's belongings) and the coffin (full of his boyfriend) he had to smuggle into his room.

They spread a duvet cover Kyungsoo made into a table cloth over the coffin, and Jongdae exchanges a look with Minseok so they both discreetly pretend to not see Sehun wiping his eyes on it.

"I can come visit him, right," Sehun asks, still sniffling, when they've shut the door of Jongdae's room behind them and they're all wandering towards the couch.

"Someone has to check the soil twice a week," Minseok offers hesitantly as he sits down and pulls his legs up under him.

Kyungsoo told Jongdae how Minseok's been in charge for most of his hibernations since they found a barely legible instruction how to do them in an ancient children's book handed down to Kyungsoo, and Jongdae knows Minseok is not one to give up control easily. It has warmth spreading through Jongdae; seeing how their friends grew to like each other, how Sehun latched onto Kyungsoo—

"No thanks," Sehun replies and lifts Vivi off the floor to his lap. "I just want to sit and talk to him, not get my hands dirty."

At that, he pets Vivi's white fur as if he's making a valid point, but Minseok looks relieved enough for Jongdae to let this go, too. It's going to be a long winter, Jongdae thinks as he lures Vivi off Sehun's lap with a treat, and also a warm and comfortable one, as he watches Sehun reaching for the comfort of Minseok's hand.

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't posted a chensoo in half a year, who am i even
> 
> oh yeah unrelated but jongdae's news made me so soft and happy, i haven't felt like that in a long while, and i wish only the best for him and his soon-to-be family ;;
> 
> ty for reading ⚰️  
> please let me know if it made you feel anything
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/fakeclover) | [cc](http://curiouscat.me/fakeclover)


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